Native Americans and other protesters gathered at the Bay Street Mall last Friday (aka Black Friday) to urge shoppers to boycott the mall, which is built on the site of the largest Indian burial ground on the West Coast. This fact — the source of much consternation for Bay Area native people — was brought to light by archeologists when the mall broke ground eight years ago. At that time, archeologists announced the presence of thousands of Ohlone, pre-Columbian skeletal remains. It was reported during construction that concrete piles were actually driven through the remains of the people buried there. The shell mound was once 60 feet high and up to 600 feet in diameter.
“This shopping mall is built on the sacred burial site of my ancestors,†said protest organizer Corina Gould of Vallejo. “How would you like it if they built a shopping mall on your grandfather’s grave.â€
Protesters representing Indian People Organizing for Change, based in Oakland, have gathered each Black Friday for the past eight years to urge shoppers to boycott the mall.
(Protest Organizers Corina Gould and Wounded Knee (3rd photo from top ))
(Photos and caption by Brian Donahue).
They're right! Bay Street is an abomination, and Bay Street Site B should never come to pass. I won't be doing any of my holiday shopping at Bay Street this year, and will encourage the people I know to stay away as well. CCA is having a craft sale this Saturday, December 5: see you there.
The first photo of the guy holding the genocide sign next to the phony lady with the skirt and the shopping bag is too perfect.
Bay Street B should be reconsidered and the land made into a park commemorating the Ohlone heritage. This could be the center of our city where people meet, honor the ancestral site, and further the effort for a liveable Emeryville. A site with natural settings instead of concrete, monstrosities that are not viable.
This is a cartoon of evil. Recall the bad hollywood script of the Steven Speilberg movie called Poltergeist wherein the evil mall developer builds the shopping mall on an old cemetery and it releases the angry ghosts. The Bay Street Mall has become a stereotype of the evil corporate power against the noble savages. It's too bad to write… it seems just too evil for believability.
I remember that movie. It WAS rather stupid as I recall. I would think the Bay Street Mall would be a lot more sensitive to this perception…it's almost like they're walking right into the "evil corporation" role.
shopping in a graveyard is good.